Preformed welting



July 9, 1946. w. c. VIZARD 2,403,773

PREFORMED WELTING' Original Filed Feb. 7, 1944 Patented July 9, 1946 2,403,773 PREFORMED WELTING W am Vimrd, on- Masssassi n r to Barbour Welting Company, Brockton, Mass., a

' .copartnershipfcomposed of .Perley E. Barbour, Walter G. Barbour. and Richard M. Barbour Original application February '7, 1944, SerialNo.

521,465. Divided and this application at! Z, 1946, Serial No. 646,183

2 Claims; (01.36-18) T'Ihis inventionlrelates to shoe welting-fandpertains more particularly to improvements in preformed welts and their methodof manufacture. 1111s application is a divisionof my co-pending agiiiication ,SerialNo. 521,465, filed February 7,

The principal purpose of the invention is to produce a molded weltwhich will serve the .pur

poses of .',Goodyear 'welting yet which eliminates the grooving and beveling of the ordinary Goodyear welt which provides a proper contour at the inseam edge, and which may be built into a shoe with a minim-um of beating to afford a tight er seam while furnishing a Wider welt extension than that that ordinarily provided by standard the lips to afford a relatively thin inseam edge,

then bending the lips downwardly and cementing them together under pressure to form a pre-.

molded flange which provides the desired inclination and a crease for the inseam stitch without beveling the top orgrooving the bottom of the welt.

Recommended embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a welt strip incised at its inseam edge in accordance with the improved method, to provide a pair of inseam lips;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the premolded welt formed by bending down and cementing said lips;

Fig; 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing'amodified and preferred form of welt strip in which the body of the strip has been channeled between the incised lips;

Febru- I nthe form shown in Fig. 1, the welt strip ll consists of a single ply of grain leather or other suitable welt material, of standard size for Goodyear welting, one hali inch wide by one-eighth inch thick and of any desiredglength. The'margin-of the strip along the side to' be used as the inseamedge is. slit longitudinally by. a angular cut .12 extending upwardly eithedongitddinal flesh edge, from a line adjacentthe bottom .015

the strip t within: ch50 inchsor th top or grain surface, and-thenfparalleluto said surface for a 5 distance approximate-1y inch, at [3, tofOr-m-a the depending inseam flange l6 of the premolded Fig. 4 is'a view of the preferred Welt made by bending and cementing the lips of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 illustrates a further modification mwhich the welt strip is composed of laminated sheets;

and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the toe portion of a welted shoe, prior to bottom filling and soling.

beveled lowerli-p l4 andatfiahgular shaped upper lip is.

hese lipsare-then bentdownwardly-andbonth ed together under pressure, after applying a suit,- able cement between the opposed lips, to form welt shown in Fig. 2. It will be appreciated that the slitting of the inseam edge and the reunion ing of the flange, but also ensures that the flange thus formed will hold its shape because of the bridging action afforded by the slight displacement of the respective lips relative to each other during the bending operation.

'It will also be observed that the upper or grain surface of the welt continues over the inseam flange, thus avoiding the objectionable appearance of a skived and beveled inseam margin which is frequently characteristic of a standard Goodyear welt when built into a shoe. The welt extension Il afforded by the improved, premolded welting is, moreover, approximately 3 inch wider than that of ordinary grooved and beveled Goodyear welt as usually applied to a shoe,

The inseam flange I6 will fit closely under the feather of the insole of a shoe to which this welting is applied; the crease l8 serves as a guide for the inseam stitch; the welt extension of the stitched welt projects outwardly from the shoe along its sides, and the toe area is easily flattened, and only suflicient welt rolling or beating to fiatten the underside of the welt extension is required in preparing the welted shoe for bottom finishing and outsoling, for the fibres of the inseam lips tion of welt beating is an extremely critical step in shoe manufacture, and that excessive or improper heating is a primary cause of damaged, distorted or defective shoes. This danger is substantially obviated by the use of the welting herein disclosed.

pulled closer to the lip of the insole and preventing the outsole stitch from cutting the inseam stitch of the welt.

In accordance with this preferredmethod, the I edge out inclines upwardly at an angle of about.

40, as at 2|, from the lower cornerof the inseam edge approximately a e inch, then parallel to the base of the welt about 1% inch at 22, then vertically upward .040 inch at 23, outwardly 1% inch at 24, and downwardly at 25 to the first cut. These cuts free a rectangular string of material which is removed and discarded or used elsewhere, and form a channel in the body of the welt material between the lower lip 26 and upper lip 21 thus, produced. The two lips are folded downwardly'and cemented together as above described to formjthe inseam flange 28 of Fig. 4.

' -Weltin'g made in accordance with either illustrated form of this invention may be composed of laminated strips of thin leather or other flexible material suitable for welting, such as fibrous,

plastic, or paper sheets, or combinations of such materials, as indicated in Fig. 5. Such laminated strips may be edge slit as in Fig. l or 3, and

7 it -'will be understood that the length and direction of the slits or cuts may be varied to suit particular conditions without departing from the -essence of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

Fig. 6 illustrates the application 01' the premolded welt II to an unfinished shoe, in accordance with the customar Goodyear welting process. As previously pointed out, the welt is of such contour that the inseam flange l8 readily fits beneath the feather of an insole 3| having a normally channeled inseam lip, with the welt extension I! projecting outwardly from the lasted upper 32, and the inseam stitch 33 pulls the flange tightly toward the lip of the insole so that the stitch is'well hidden within the seam. Because of the novel-formation of the flange and the uniform appearance of the top of the welt, and ordinary half inch welt may thus be attached with a full width welt extension.

- I claim: '1. Preformed welting comprising a welt strip having a longitudinal slit along its inseam edge to provide a pair of lips, said lips being folded downwardly relative to the welt extension and cemented together to form a depending inseam flange, the crease of the fold serving as a guide for the inseam stitch.

2. Preformed welting comprising a welt strip having a longitudinal slit along its inseam edge to provide a pair of lips, said lips being folded downwardly relative to the welt extension and cemented together to form a depending inseam flange, the crease of the fold serving as a guide for the inseam stitch and said flange being substantially thinner at the stitch line than the welt 

